The Poisoned Well
Fourteenth Day of the Ninth Month 293 AC
After leaving a note with the sharp-eyed merchant explaining that Corlys Waters would wish to speak to the Mage at his earliest convenience you and your companions spread out through the city to places high and low, listening to rumors and spreading a few of your own. Much of what you hear is encouraging like the news that Septon Kyle has had only limited success in swaying more of the independent Godsworn to his side, with many outright refusing his invitations either out of conviction or holding out for better bribes if one were of a cynical disposition. Also making the rounds of the merchant quays is the fact that Lormar had been forced to flee after being found to be nothing but a conman, stock in his scheme having plummeted into not being worth the parchment it was written on.
"I heard they were dealing in witchcraft too, what with him claiming to be a healer and not blessed by the Seven,
" one fisherman said to another as they brought their catch ashore.
"Bullshit!" The other man replied in disgust. "Everything's supposed to be witchcraft these days, spoiled cabbages, it must have been the fairies, someone's puking after a night in a winesink, then someone must have put a curse on the booze, if the woman you've set your eye on doesn't give you the time of day, that must mean she's been enchanted. Fucking weasel merchants trying to get out of paying their dues to the folk they ruined by screaming witchcraft. I'll tell you what, I'm glad Lord Hightower doesn't hold with that sort of nonsense and just judges fair as things lay."
You pass them by as another face in the crowd, glad to hear that at least sometimes the voice of the streets turns to calming fears rather than stoking the flames. Mayhap Lord Hightower had commanded the Watch to keep silent and used his own agents to spread the tale of mismanagement and theft.
Then there are tales about the Lantern Bearers, most just the sort of praise tinged with no small amount of fear one would expect to hear after the move in force against the Deep One infiltrators, though there is also word of a new way to 'cure' those who have been cursed against their will by the scourge of the seas. Tobyn and the others had obviously not felt like keeping this sort of news secret, not that you can actually blame them. The healing waters are worthless if those who might benefit from it do not hear of it. Of course rumors being what they are you hear some truly bizarre notions arising.
'If you dip your feet in holy salt that's been kept away from the ocean for seven days and seven night's you'll be cured,' one sensibly dressed grey-haired woman, probably a merchant's daughter or wife, told another in earshot of Tyene which had supposedly then fallen into a whispered conversation on the benefits of seeking help from 'lesser powers' if it meant protection from the Squishers. She had vaguely pointed them towards the Merling King, to whom there exists a small sailor's shrine in the city, though of course not all the rumors you had spread had been so benign.
Wearing scores of faces you, Dany, and Tyene slip in and out of dozens of congregations and scores of taverns like ghosts sowing dark rumors, that Brother Lucan has plans to use his indentured mages and cruelly bound angels to seize power during the Conclave, deposing the other leaders among the Faith to name himself High Septon, each tale subtly different from the last. To lesser lords who have prospered from dealings with Highgarden you imply that it is the Fey who are his target, to merchants who have deal in trade with the Narrow Sea you speak of a war with the 'Dragon in the east', and to those who still hold loyalty to King's Landing you remind them most pointedly that to raise the Faith Militant anew is to rebel against the crown leaving the Seven Kingdoms tearing itself apart even as ever more foes show themselves.
Though there is no way to know for certain how much these tales have caught root in the mind of the people of Oldtown, and especially the delegates, you strongly suspect they will at least
hear one of attacks on Lucan's character and motives before they go into seclusion.
***
Fifteenth Day of the Ninth Month 293 AC
Alas that not all the news you hear in turn is as encouraging. As you gather for dinner on the last day before the Conclave begins in earnest Dany arrives late and troubled. "I did not do much rumor spreading today, I'm afraid," she sighs. "I heard from from a woman in the River Market that her septon was 'confused with all this talk of magic', which was odd since he was one of Septa Maer's supporters in the city. I could see how she might have
lost supporters changing her message, but not how she could have made him confused. So I tracked down the septon and spoke to him under a glamour. Supposedly he'd been one of the first to listen to Maer, but he then heard that Brother Lucan spoke to her for hours and they parted on good terms so now he does not really know what to believe."
"
Could this Lucan have simply talked around Maer that easily?" your mother asks. "We are not the only ones who can spread exaggerated tales, for all we know Lucan himself or his supporters could have reinterpreted a cold welcome as 'good terms'. That sort of tactic is hardly unusual when you have to persuade large numbers of people with relatively little trust binding them together."
For a moment there is silence save for the clink of knives on plates.
"I could always speak to her again tonight," Dany offers, though dubiously. Two divine visitations in the span of three days would rather dint the gravity of the occasion and may raise doubts as to their veracity.
"Why not just use magic to find if they even met and what he may have told her?" Ser Richard asks.
"Depending on how skilled he is and how esoteric his talents he could have left traps behind for Maer's dream visitor," you note, not wishing to risk your sister to such an attempt.
Your mother nods firmly to the notion but Dany is not convinced. "Then at worst we will have the chance to capture his guardians or trace his wards. I don't like the feeling of being blind to his moves."
And therein lies the crux of the matter, you had gotten used to knowing where almost every piece lay with a bit of magic and a little luck, but the last two days had shown that there are yet gaps in the weave even with all the tools at your disposal.
What do you do?
[] Wait for the opening of the Conclave, a vague rumor is not worth acting rashly
-[] Speak on the first day (Write in)
-[] Wait to have a better sense of where things stand
[] Try to confirm what, if anything, had happened with Most Devout Septa Maer
-[] Write in
[] Write in
OOC: I decided to do this as narrative and not just a straight rumors post because it integrates with your brief smear campaign better this way. Hope it works. 
